Union County College Names McMenamin New President

CRANFORD – Union County College today announced that Dr. Margaret McMenamin has been named its new president. She will take office prior to the start of the fall semester.

The announcement followed a special meeting of the board of trustees and board of governors yesterday to confirm the selection of McMenamin from among three finalists by the college’s presidential search committee, according to interim president Dr. John R. Farrell, Jr. McMenamin replaces outgoing president Dr. Thomas H. Brown.

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McMenamin is the executive vice president of educational services of Brookdale Community College in Lincroft, a position she has held for five years. She also served as vice president of academic and student affairs at Lehigh Carbon County Community College in Schnecksville, Pa.

While at Brookdale, McMenamin’s accomplishments included an academic restructuring, development of an academic master plan and a college-wide assessment, according to the search committee review. She also strengthened degree completion programs with four-year colleges, initiated a program to allow high school students to take college classes, and helped identify and secure grant and foundation funding.

“Dr. McMenamin possesses the necessary talents and insight to lead Union County College at a challenging time, both for institutions of higher education in general and our college in particular,” said Victor M. Richel, chairman of the college board of trustees. “This is a time of expanding diversity of both student population and academic focuses, evolving occupational demands of the community, growing competition for funding and increasing technological opportunities.”

“The students, faculty and staff of the college, as well as the community of which our students will become contributing members, deserve a president who can lead in all these areas, and Dr. McMenamin is supremely qualified to do that.”

The qualifications the search committee looked for when screening candidates included: academic leadership, with an emphasis on expanding the horizon of the college to meet the diverse needs of the community and foreseeing those needs in the future; administrative and fiscal experience, as well as fundraising; and the ability to manage the changing needs of students and global and societal changes.

The new college president will oversee a college with an annual operational budget in 2009 of more than $70 million. The school serves 6,300 full-time and 6,600 part-time students with a full-time faculty of 180 and an adjunct faculty of about 300. The school operates four campuses in Union County and maintains an associate in science degree program with the Trinitas School of Nursing in Elizabeth and the Muhlenberg Harold B. and Dorothy A. Snyder Schools in Plainfield.

Also considered for the position were Dr. Marie Gnage, president of West Virginia University at Parkersburg, and Dr. Wallace Smith, vice president for academic affairs at the college.

Brown announced his retirement after 20 years with the college. He is taking a one-year sabbatical to write a book about his tenure at the school and to establish an official college archive. Farrell, vice president of administrative services and executive assistant to the president, was named interim president effective January 1.